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ExxonMobil’s Strategic M&A Evolution

Publish Date: 27th June 2025

ExxonMobil, the world’s largest publicly traded oil & gas supermajor, was formed via the $73.7 billion merger of Exxon and Mobil in 1999. As of 2023, it employs around 72,000 people worldwide, with annual revenue of approximately $334 billion and total assets worth about $340 billion. The company operates across upstream (oil & gas exploration and production), downstream (refining and chemicals), and chemical sectors, with a growing portfolio in LNG, carbon capture, and advanced chemicals. It manages vast upstream assets in the U.S., Guyana, and Indonesia, and downstream assets in 20 countries. Growth initiatives focus on the Permian Basin, Guyana offshore development, and LNG projects.

Historical M&A Deals (Chronological, up to 2023)

Year Target Type Value (approx)

1919 Humble Oil & Refining Acquisition –
1928 Creole Petroleum (Venezuela) Acquisition –
1984 Superior Oil Co. Acquisition $5.7 bn
1999 Mobil Corp. Merger $81 bn
2009 XTO Energy Acquisition $36 bn + $11 bn debt
2011 Phillips Resources, TWP Acquisition $1.69 bn
2012 Land swap with Denbury (Bakken) Swap $1.6 bn
2012 Celtic Exploration (Canada) Acquisition $2.6 bn
2013 Esso Card & BOPP films Divestiture –
2014 HK pumped storage stake Stake sale $33 m USD hong kong currency
2015 Chalmette Refining Divestiture $322 m
2017 InterOil Corp. Acquisition $2.5 bn
2018 Federal (Indonesia lubricants) Acquisition $436 m
2019 Norway oil & gas assets Divestiture $4 bn
2021 Santoprene polymers Divestiture $1.15 bn
2021 UK & North Sea upstream Divestiture $1 bn
2022 Billings Refinery & assets Divestiture $310 m
2022 Nigeria MPNU sale (Seplat) Divestiture $800 m
2023 Denbury Inc. Acquisition $4.9 bn
2023 Pioneer Natural Resources Merger ~$60 bn ($64.5B incl. debt)
This list encompasses 20+ key transactions illustrating ExxonMobil’s strategic expansion, divestiture, and portfolio shaping moves.

Recent M&A Activity (2024–2025)

Pioneer Natural Resources
Completed in May 2024, the $60 bn all‑stock merger doubled Exxon’s Permian footprint, pushing production to ~1.3 → 2 MM boe/d by 2027. Expected synergies exceed $3 bn/year, $1 bn above initial projections.

Esso France Sale
As of May 2025, Exxon is negotiating to divest its 82.9% stake in Esso France to Canada’s North Atlantic Groupe, valued at €149/share (€63 distribution prior) with deal closing expected late 2025.

Thai Gas Assets
In Q1 2025, Exxon sold stakes in the E5, E5N, and EU1 onshore blocks in Thailand to Horizon Oil for ~$30 m plus contingent payments.

European Refining/Chemical Divestitures
Closed late 2024, Exxon sold Fos-sur-Mer refinery and Gravenchon chemical plant to Rhône Energies for undisclosed billions, exiting aging European assets.

Divestiture Strategy & Notable Deals
European Exit: Norway assets ($4 bn), UK North Sea ($1 bn), French refinery/chemicals (late 2024), exiting high-cost, regulated markets to streamline operations.
Emerging Markets: Sale of Nigeria MPNU ($800 m) to Seplat to exit less profitable or complex jurisdictions.

Asia Onshore Gas Small-scale Thai assets sold to focus on higher-return offshore and unconventional development.

What Worked & What Didn’t?
Successes

Permian Expansion via Pioneer – strategic consolidation, operational synergies, and cost savings ($3 bn/yr). Rapid integration established Exxon as shale powerhouse.

XTO Acquisition (2010) – foundational pivot into U.S. shale gas, increasing production and positioning Exxon in unconventional plays.

Carbon Capture via Denbury (2023) – strengthened Exxon’s CCS portfolio, aligning with evolving regulatory and investor pressures.

Divestitures – consistent capital recycling (e.g. Europe, Nigeria) fueling investment in high-return projects and preserving financial discipline.

Missteps
Legacy asset rationalization—exiting older assets was prudent, but slower than some competitors, raising concerns about timing.

Scale risk – mega-merger with Pioneer increases integration complexity and debt exposure; long-term commodity price risk remains.

Strategic Rationale
ExxonMobil’s M&A strategy hinges on focusing on advantaged assets, divesting underperforming or noncore operations, and diversifying into emerging arenas:

Upstream deepen shale footprint for scale synergies (Pioneer), enhance technology leadership (XTO).

Carbon strategy build CCS capacity via Denbury.

Portfolio optimization free cash from divestitures reallocated to Permian, LNG, Guyana offshore (Whiptail), and advanced chemicals (IPA for semiconductor grade).
These moves support financial discipline, long-term shareholder returns, and energy transition resilience.

Outlook
Integration priority: ensuring smooth assimilation of Pioneer & Denbury operations without cost overruns.

Divestiture momentum continued sales in low-growth regions; proceeds will fund Guyana development, Permian drilling, and LNG expansion.

Transition alignment investment in CCS, chemical diversification, and possibly lithium upstream (non-M&A) suggests shifting capital mix.

Conclusion
From its monumental 1999 merger to the transformative 2024 Pioneer deal, ExxonMobil has leveraged M&A to transition from an integrated oil giant to a strategically focused energy leader. Its approach—acquire scale and expertise in cores, divest noncore assets, and reinvest in next-gen capabilities—has so far paid off, enhancing production capacity and portfolio strength. However, as the energy landscape evolves, bold bets must be matched with meticulous execution and further strategic clarity.

https://mandaequilibrium.com/exxonmobils-strategic-ma-evolution/


Layoffs have started at the newly acquired FSD group

Just after 6 months and barely being integrated, still balancing 2 phones, 2 computers, 2 emails. Without TF really knowing who is who and what we do, the layoffs have stated. They said it is strategic, that this will make us stronger blah blah blah..


Palo Alto to cut over 500 CyberArk jobs after closing $25 billion deal

Last Thursday, one day after the transaction officially closed, employees across the combined organization received emails outlining the status of their employment. For most, the message confirmed continuity. For an estimated 500 CyberArk employees worldwide, including roughly 100 in Israel, it signaled the end of their roles.

https://www.calcalistech.com/ctechnews/article/hy707511ube


September marks 10 Year anniversary of dell buying EMC. Heard potentially exciting news/Rumor

i Heard through the grapevine that September marks the 10-year anniversary of dell buying EMC, where there was a clause that stated " Dell must retain EMC legacy Server ORG for 10 years" In september the rumor is NVIDIA will buy out all of ISG ORG and dell will go back to just selling PC/Laptops >>>>ONE DELL WAY??


Jana Partners - Get, Set, Gooo

Activist investor Jana Partners has reportedly purchased a stake in payments company Fiserv.

Now, Jana is campaigning for changes to boost Fiserv’s underperforming stock. Their track record in the past:

• Whole Foods Market (2017): Jana took ~9% stake, pushed for improvements; Amazon acquired it later that year (major profit for Jana).
• PetSmart (2014): Jana held ~10%, advocated sale; acquired by BC Partners for $8.7B.
• Pinnacle Foods (2018): Pushed operational changes; sold to Conagra for $8.1B.
• Frontier Communications: Called for strategic review/sale; stock rose significantly; later acquired by Verizon.


Bedford Labcorp facility cuts 94 jobs

Labcorp announced layoffs at its Bedford, Massachusetts facility. The global life sciences company plans to cut 94 employees. These layoffs will begin on March 9, 2026. The process will continue through January 14, 2027. This follows Labcorp's 2021 acquisition of Toxicon in Bedford.

https://www.lowellsun.com/2026/02/12/company-layoffs-hit-greater-lowell-region/


Netflix Layoffs product team

Netflix recently conducted layoffs within its product team. Dozens of employees were impacted by these job reductions. This represents under one percent of the company's total workforce. These cuts occurred after Elizabeth Stone gained product team oversight. The layoffs happen amidst Netflix's proposed $83 billion Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition.

https://www.thewrap.com/industry-news/business/netflix-product-team-hit-with-layoffs/


Palo Alto Networks Finalizes CyberArk Merger, Layoffs Expected

Palo Alto Networks completed its $25 billion merger. The deal combined two major cybersecurity firms. The merger with CyberArk closed on Wednesday. Layoffs are planned following the acquisition. CyberArk employed about 300 people in Massachusetts.

https://www.bizjournals.com/boston/news/2026/02/11/cyberark-closes-merger.html


Sweetening with a pile of Sh*t

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/david-ellison-adds-new-sweeteners-in-hostile-paramount-megadeal-bid-for-warner-bros-1236501314/

Why not go all the way? What's stopping us from going all out with buying them? I thought we had endless money to empower us to be a global force in entertainment. If we lose out on this, I see another cut so big the wound will never heal.


P66 to be acquired!

Water fountain rumors are that GoGo and Southernland have been meeting with outside legal teams negotiating an acquisition of P66. Anybody have any insight?
Watching the stock trades of the ELT and Board definitely makes one wonder if there might be some validity to the rumors…


Global Foundries will be insolvent within 5 years

Due to principles in Semiconductor manufacturing and moores law, GFs products will enter the low cost semiconductor market within 36 months.
SiPho isn’t capturing as much market demand as previous anticipated, and GaN is somewhat niche. Larger scale (7+nM) technologies will become cheap, consumer scale electronics that mostly any foundry in the world will be able to successfully manufacture. GF will scrape along for some time, missing Quarterly targets here, laying off staff there, cutting cost all the way as they try to keep investors and BoD happy. When NYS incentives run out, GF will consider being acquired by other manufacturers. My bet would be TSMC as they continue US expansion, with some potential for Intel as well. Only hurdle is US administration woes, however, GF is not an American company. This is furthermore complicated by massive deficits in skilled labor, prevalence of AI, and opportunities for robotic automation that will present themselves over the next 36 months.
Any employees considering this as FUD, ask yourself, where do you see GF in 5 years? Are things feeling concrete? Or do you feel some ripples in the water.
Costs of production are going up, which always results in profits going down, especially when producing antiquated tech.


Sales vs Engineering

There's a lot of bi--hing and moaning about Sales comments on this board.

Perspective:

Without Sales, none of you would have a job. Without Engineering, people would still have a job because Engineering doesn't deliver or do anything. Dell's model is to acquire companies with good but declining products and sell them to its install base - with no plan or skill set to continue innovating or developing these products out further - and keep selling them until there's nothing left. Case in point, EMC products we sell today are the same as they were 10 years ago.

Question? What successful products has Dell engineering developed organically that didn't originate from an acquisition? Name one.


Question on RSUs

Now that we see Crown Castle is going to weasel out on the RSUs for the 20% of people they are laying off tomorrow, it made me wonder about this corporate squeeze-play they are doing with RSUs for those in the perimeter.
I’ve been a project manager long enough to know when a project plan has a massive hole in it. Right now, the company is spinning this "retention incentive" like they’re doing us a favor. But look at the math: they are accelerating what we already earned from last year, while completely cutting us out of the 2026 LTI grant.
There are over half of us moving to Zayo or EQT. That means over half the company just got hit with a massive compensation gap while those remaining get the full bag.
For those of us in the field, those RSUs are a huge part of our total pay. If you take that away, it’s basically a constructive pay cut.
A few things that don’t sit right:

  1. The SEC filings say the company has to operate in the "ordinary course of business" until the deal closes. Skipping a standard annual grant for a couple thousand people doesn’t sound like "ordinary course" to me. It sounds like a budget hack to make the books look better for the buyers.
  2. Does this trigger "Good Reason" for us having a material reduction in compensation is grounds to walk with full severance.
  3. We already saw the Byler v. Crown Castle class action pay out for the California crew. Do they really want 2,000 more of us filing a bad faith suit while they’re trying to close a multi-billion dollar deal?
    Accelerating my old money doesn't make up for stealing my new money. If Zayo isn't putting a "bridge grant" in our offer letters, Crown Castle is leaving us high and dry.
    Time to stop being "Castle Casualties" and start asking questions about our rights, too.

Welcome to TI

Now that you have been acquired by Texas Instruments, allow me to foreshadow what’s in store based on how the Lehi acquisition went.

66% of you are getting laid off. No one is safe. Start looking NOW!

Your leadership will tell you how great TI is. How we do not do layoffs and have great profit sharing of 20%. This is a LIE. We have quarterly layoffs and profit sharing has been severely curtailed for 2026.

Older employees will be “managed out“ to avoid illegal age discrimination. Document everything! Save every email! Do not sign any forms without consulting a labor lawyer! HR IS YOUR ENEMY!

You will be encouraged to bust your butt during the transition. Don’t. You are probably going to lose your job. Spend that energy finding a new one.